How can I match HV40 to XHA1s footage?
 

Hi guys, I recently filmed my first wedding for someone (for free so they don't expect much) using a borrowed XHA1s. Someone's given me footage
of the 1st dance from an HV40 so I'd like to do a multicam edit of it. Any idea how I can match the videos up so they look the same?

As they stand, the HV40 looks a lot better than the 3x more expensive XHA1s!
I had it on default settings, the dial was set to "M" and I put it on 12db gain. The HV40 was just on default settings I believe, and although the
screenshot below looks like there's a lot of colour noise when it's played back it's hardly noticable.

Any idea how to do it? (I've tried brightness & contrast on XHA1s but it ends up looking dull or too noisy)
I have Premiere and After Effects CS4

cheers

I had a 20W light on the XHA1s but it seems to have helped the HV40 more than the XHA1s! (you can see my cam on the bottom screenshot
in the bottom left), this is the light

screenshots (XHA1s first, then HV40)

http://www.maffmace.co.uk/1.JPG

http://www.maffmace.co.uk/2.JPG

Hi,

You can match these up by equalizing the grain with the noise reduction filter from neatvideo.com. You can use a color correction filter to match the gamma levels and then put the neat filter last in the chain. Then tweak the sharpness settings to bring back some definition. Does wonders...

I also have XH-A1 and HV30. With the Matrox Color Matching feature, I can match the output quite closely

Color matching XH-A1 and HV30 | L.A. Color Blog

The other way is to use the OUTSIDEN preset for XH-A1, then it matches HV30 with some settings

Settings to match XH-A1 and HV30 Footage | L.A. Color Blog

That will give you a near match straight out of the camera.

Matt....while I cannot speak to the two above suggestions, considering you have After Effects CS4 then you have a wealth of tools at your disposal.

I've attached two corrected jpegs of your footage for your comparison....

In both cases I added a levels adjustment to bring up the luminance somewhat, as well as the remove grain filter (because honestly both shots have a very high amount of grain noise).

In addition on the XHA1 footage I also added a curves adjustment adding in a little midtone and slightly blowing out the whites (not because thats good mind you, but it does match the hv40 footage more), as well as a very slight smart blur (to smooth out the noise just a bit more) and finally a hue/saturation adjustment to bump up the xha1's saturation.

I honestly believe that the XHA1 footage is better. The noise is very apparent in your original post but there is better sharpness/detail and far less chromatic abberation (blue fringing going on with the shot). So it is actually easier to manipulate it in post to achieve better results.

All said though I really recommend NOT shooting the XHA1 at 12db gain (6 is often pushing things) or at least look into a low light preset to help curb some of the graininess. Oh yeah and shoot wide open aperatures at these low light settings (if you were not)....you will need all the light you can get.

Finally, there are a wealth of tools to work video over....After effects is an excellent one (Premiere is good too), but neither are automatic...you must understand the filters/effects and tools within them to be able to logically apply them to any given situation.

Hope that gives you some ideas,
All the best,
James Hooey

Sound Pro Studios

WOW! great job on fixing these photos James. Hope Maff has this much success correcting the video. I Also use the A1 and HV30 and agree that 12 db is to much gain. 6 db is pushing it. I also see that sometimes my HV30 seems to look better than my A1 before any correcting. But when the lights get low the HV30 adds way to much gain. I'm trying to teach my wife to run the HV30 in manual to avoid this. She thinks point and shoot is how it should be. I'm about ready to find a new assistant, though its hard to find someone to work for her pay. Bless her heart. Our best solution is to use a 50w light on a stand next to the DJ lights. So far no complaints about the light.

I also want to thank all the posters on this forum for all the great tips.
Rich

James, that's looks really good, I've bought Neat Video Pro but am about to give your recommendations a go now as well

one thing, the camera was borrowed (without instructions), how do I "shoot wide open aperatures"?
I will be borrowing the camera again to help my brother out with soemthing and would love to know how to do what you've suggested

thank you & thanks to everyone else for your input

Maff,

To shoot "wide open" with a XHA1 is really easy. Barrel ring closest to the camera is the aperture control. Turned to the left it opens the aperture up allowing more light in. Zoom all the way out when setting this to ensure that you are truely going to have a wide open setting throughout the entire zoom range (the camera's aperture begins to close down when zooming in....which is normal for the XHA1). There is also a display readout on the LCD/viewfinder which shows the current aperture (assuming it's properly enabled in the menu/display settings).

Few other things to consider in low light...

No ND's switched on!!!

Gain probably no higher than +6db

In a pinch you can lower the shutter speed....in the UK I guess that would mean shooting at 1/25 rather than the usual 1/50

And as already mentioned there are a couple low light presets available for the camera....check out the presets thread at the top of this forum.

All the best,
James Hooey

thank you very much James, this is brilliant advice

Re: How can I match HV40 to XHA1s footage?
 

Last year I bought the XHa1 to go with my HV40. This is how I was able to match the HV40 to the XHa1. I started with the factory preset on the XHa1. I placed both cameras on shutter priority at 1/60 sec. I turned on the automatic gain control on the XHa1 to match the automatic gain of the HV40. I ran my test at night under tungsten illumination using the tungsten white balance settings on both cameras. While viewing both images on my monitor, I noticed the HV40 was darker than the XHa1. The lighting consisted of two 60 watt bulbs in a ceiling light fixture in my home office. The f stop on the XHa1 was f.2.2. I increased the brightness on the HV40 to +5. This adjustment made the brightness the same on both cameras. The color was close, but the XHa1 was a little warmer looking. My off-white walls were slightly yellow looking on the XHa1, and whiter on the HV40. I switched the white balance of the XHa1 from tungsten to auto white balance. This resulted in the wall color matching that of the HV40. After this change, I could not tell which was the XHa1 and which was the HV40. They looked the same to me. This surprised me that the match was so close considering the lenses are different, and the XHa1 users three CCDs compared to a single CMOS sensor on the HV40. This test was under tungsten lighting. I have not tried a match in daylight. Also, when I first attempted a match, I monitored through the LCD view screens, which was a mistake. I discovered the LCD screens were a poor match. The image on the XHa1 view screen was warmer and not as bright. This worked for me.

Re: How can I match HV40 to XHA1s footage?
 

Correct. The LCD screens are mainly for judging shot composition/framing and focus. They are are not very useful for white balance or exposure (unless you have zebra enabled and know how to use it).